Trusting
by lilpip
Summary: Frodo is a young and innocent hobbit lad, until he gets kidnapped that is... He needs help, but what happens when an elf comes in? (A bit of slash, maybe R&R please)
1. Fair

Yesh, I love to toture Frodo. Sorry, Frodo. Lot's of Frodo angst fics! But this chapter is just a fluffy sort of chapter. Just wait 'till the next few chapter! Mwa ha ha ha ha...  
  
-I do not own LOTR or any of its characters.obviously.-  
  
~*~  
  
Merry and Frodo had been really great friends for a really long time. Whatever they did, they did together. It was very hard to separate them when needed.  
  
Starting out his new life at Brandy Hall wasn't very easy for Frodo, with his parents dead and everyone not paying much attention to him since he was a Baggins.  
  
After everyone had gotten over the fact that he was so cute, that is. When he first came to Brandy Hall, every young girl was staring at him wherever he went, and it was very hard for the adult women to keep back the impulse to squeeze his cheeks. He hadn't exactly liked going to bed with his cheeks sore.  
  
When they weren't raiding kitchens, or getting they're cheeks pinched, they were either catching frogs at the pond or just talking quietly. Today was one of those days where they were talking quietly together, walking through the small woods by Brandy Hall. Well, no to quiet, but quiet enough so that no one could clearly hear them.  
  
"You know, I feel sorry for you cousin!" Merry said jovially to his older cousin.  
  
"Oh, really? And whys that?" Frodo replied curiously.  
  
"All those hobbit women back at Brandy Hall! Pinching your cheeks all the time, and saying how cute you are! I'm glad it's not me!" Merry said, laughing.  
  
"Your just jealous 'cause I'm much more adorable than you!" Frodo said, giving him a mischeivous glance.  
  
"Frodo, I wouldn't be jealous of you if you had all the prettiest hobbit ladies pinching your cheeks and squeeling!" This brought a laugh from both hobbits' lips.  
  
They fell into silence after that for a while, and Frodo stopped in front of a low tree with many branches sticking out. He climbed onto the lowest branch, and proceeded in climbing up the tree and sitting on a wide branch high above Merry.  
  
Merry peered up at him, a look which clearly said "You're crazy".  
  
"Are you insane, Frodo Baggins?!" Merry said exasperatedly. "You're not scared of hights?"  
  
"Not that much, no." Frodo replied casually. He extended an arm to Merry. "Want to try it?"  
  
Merry stood uncertainly, shifting a bit. He finally looked up at him. "No thanks! Come down here!"  
  
Frodo sighed and climbed down carefully. He landed neatly next to Merry, and paused for a moment. He yawned and sat down at the roots of the tree looking up to the sky.  
  
Merry crawled into Frodo's lap carefully, and snuggled up against him. Frodo put his arms around him, and immediately felt Merry relax and slowly drift into a deep sleep.  
  
Frodo stared up at the sky silently a while longer, not as tired as Merry. He felt sleepy, and decided that he would only have a quick nap. He settled Merry in a more comfertable postion, and drifted into a light dose.  
  
After only about an hour, Frodo was awakened by a small sound. Not to loud, but just loud enough to reach his sharp ears, and wake him up. Frodo wondered groggly where the noise had come from. Then he heard another noise, hardly farther than a few feet behind them. Frodo looked down at Merry, still deeply asleep in his arms. He got up slowly, settling Merry comfortably aginst the base of the tree, and got on his hands and knees and started crawling toward the bushes that lined the back of the tree that had been such a good resting spot.  
  
Frodo peered through the small green leaves of the bush, and what he saw nearly made him cry out in surprise.  
  
One of the Big Folk was laying only a few feet away from him, sleeping peacefully. His travel worn cloak was spread across him like a blanket, his long legs spread out, taller than Frodo himself. His scruffy appearance reached his face too. His hair was wet and dirty looking, in much need of a brush. His face was scruffy, little hairs pricking out in many places. What a weird sight! Frodo had never seen anyone with facial hair before, no hobbit had it. Would he wake up if I were to come to close to him, maybe even touch his face? Was this one of the ruffians Bilbo had told him about when visiting him?  
  
His own curiousity was overhwelming him, he couldn't take it anymore. Before he knew what he was doing, he had already climbed out of the bushes and closed the distance between him and the man.  
  
He slowly knelt next to him, and cautiously lowered his hand and felt his hair. The hair was knotted and in terrible need for a wash. He moved his hand to the man face and felt the small pricks of hair sprouting there. Very interesting, very interesting indeed. Frodo moved his hand back to the man's hair, and felt it again, but as he did, the man moved slowly onto his side, facing Frodo.  
  
Frodo started, he had better go, or he would risk waking him up. Frodo slowly rose to his feet, and placed one foot infront of him, carefully placing it on the ground. But he had not been paying attention to where he placed it, and so it had landed on a twig.  
  
SNAP!  
  
The twig snapped in two mercilessly. The man's eyes snapped wide open, and in a flash, had hold of Frodo's small ankle.  
  
With a cry, Frodo threw himself back, but with the man's large hand tightly wrapped aorund his ankle, he landed on his backside, and the struggling began.  
  
Frodo was flailing madly, crying out every few seconds, and the man was trying to catch one of his flailing arms, trying to prevent him from hurting himself or him.  
  
He finally caught Frodo's right arm, and held it tight. Frodo cried out in terror, and tried to pull his arm free of the man's grasp, as well as his ankle.  
  
"Please, calm down Little One!" The man said, trying to keep his voice calm.  
  
"No! Let me GO!" The last word was punctuated from a kick to the stomach with Frodo's free foot's heel. The man doubled back, let go of Frodo's wrist, and started rubbing his stomach with his hand. He still held Frodo's ankle in his other hand, tightly.  
  
Taking advantage of the man's disablement, he yelled to his companion; "Merry! MERRY!"  
  
As if on cue, Merry burst through the brush, pausing in bewilderment to take in this bizarre sight. But this only deterred him a second, and in a flash he had run across the clearing, and was on the man's side, pulling at the man's long lank hair.  
  
"Let go of my cousin!" Merry yelled, and started pulling the man's hair harder, while Frodo continued to struggle. This went on for a few minutes, the yelling and struggling and pulling.  
  
But finally it ended when the man found both Merry and Frodo's collars, and stood up, with them hanging about a foot or two from the ground.  
  
Frodo struggled for a bit, scratching at the man's hand and kicking at empty air, but finally stopped with a whimper. Merry stayed completely still, staring at the man with frightened grey eyes.  
  
All the while the man examined the two hobbits. The smaller one looked like most other hobbits; sandy hair, grey eyes, though thinner than some, he looked like most hobbits would.  
  
But Frodo, Frodo's appearance stunned him. If he hadn't curly hair, big furry feet, and was a bit taller, he could pass for an Elf. Frodo's fair skin almost glowed in the sunlight, and he seemed to have an inner light like an Elf. Large, morning-glory blue eyes, dark curly hair, innocence that shone like a diamond. This hobbit was very special, beautiful in many ways.  
  
He was brought out of his small reverie by another small whimper from Frodo. The hobbit had shut his eyes tightly, and had curled up as best he could while he was feet from the ground. A single tear slid down the soft cheek.  
  
The man suddenly felt very sorry and guilty. He set both hobbits down, and sat on the ground before Frodo, while Merry scampered behind Frodo, and started rubbing his back.  
  
"Shhhh, Little One. It's ok, it's ok, I won't hurt you." The man soothed. Frodo opened his large eyes, overflowing with tears.  
  
"Wh-who are you?" Frodo asked, choking a little.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry for not telling you that earlier! Please call me Estel." Estel told the young hobbit.  
  
"I am Frodo Baggins, and this is Merry Brandybuck." Frodo said, brushing his tears away and pointing to Merry."Isn't Estel elvish?"  
  
Estel chuckled a bit, relieved that Frodo was ok. "Yes it is! Do you know what it means?"  
  
Frodo smiled and nodded. "It means hope."  
  
Estel nodded. "Yes, it means hope. Where did you learn that?"  
  
"I learned it from my Uncle Bilbo, he been teaching me ever since we met when I was ten."  
  
"How old are you now?" Estel puzzled.  
  
"I'm thirteen now." Frodo answered.  
  
"Uuuh, excuse me, Mister Estel sir?" Merry's tentative voice emerged into the conversation unexpectedly. Both Frodo and Estel turned their heads to look at Merry. Merry gulped and continued, "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in the Shire, and so close to Brandy Hall?"  
  
Frodo's eyes widened a bit, he had been so engrossed in the conversation, that question had not crossed his mind. He looked expectantly at Estel.  
  
Estel considered them for a moment, then finally spoke; "I am a Ranger, I protect the Shire from-" He paused, considering his words carefully. "Whatever is out there."  
  
"Estel?" Frodo caught Estel's attention again. "Why do you have an elvish name?"  
  
Estel smiled. "Because I was raised most of my life in Rivendell, after my parents died."  
  
Frodo's eyes widened even more in wonder. "Rivendell? Isn't that where Elves live?"  
  
"Yes, it is."  
  
"What's it like?"  
  
Estel grinned widely. So curious! "Rivendell is a ver beautiful place. It has gardens and beautiful stone sculptures, and many elves."  
  
"Must be a wonderous place." Frodo mused.  
  
"'Tis very wonderous." Estel said.  
  
Frodo crawled over to sit by the man. Merry followed behind, always weary about Estel. He still did not trust the man, although his cousin did. How could Frodo be so trusting? Especially of a man? He was so tall, and strong, and had so many weapons!  
  
Frodo was just to trusting. If he carried on being this trusting, he would get himself into some things that he wouldn't like to be in.  
  
"Why would you want to protect us Hobbits?" Frodo asked.  
  
Estel considered his words. "We protect you because you live such peaceful lives, and are so gentlehearted. We don't want you to get hurt, we want you safe." Estel didn't add that he didn't think a hobbit could protect himself from what was out there anyway. But Frodo seemed satisfied with his answer, and sat silent for a few moments.  
  
"Where do you sleep?" Frodo asked.  
  
"There are more rangers, and we have a place to sleep, but I like to sleep under the stars. It reminds me of Rivendell." Estel answered.  
  
They continued talking for a long while, sometimes Merry joined in, but most times he decided to stay out. He still did not trust the Ranger that much.  
  
Merry cleared his throat after a long while. "Frodo, I think we have to go back to Brandy Hall. It's getting late."  
  
Frodo looked up at the setting sun, sending purple, red, orange, and blue hues across the approaching night sky. He sighed slowly, his heart sinking.  
  
"Yes, you're right Merry, we should get going." He stood up, Merry doing the same. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Estel." He bowed to the man politely.  
  
"Yes, pleasure." Merry said, but didn't bow in the slightest.  
  
"Yes, 'twas a pleasure to meet you too, Frodo and Merry." He bowed low, then kneeled in front of Frodo. "I look forward to seeing you again sometime, Frodo." He gave the small hobbit a hug, Frodo started at first, but warmed up to it, and hugged the Ranger back. "Goodbye, Little One." Estel said quietly.  
  
"Goodbye, Estel." And with a final hug, Frodo and Merry left the clearing, not speaking a word until they got back to Brandy Hall.  
  
Estel lay back down again, the leaves crunching softly under him, drawing his cloak close about him. What a nice hobbit lad Frodo was. Such a fair lad too. He genuingly wished he would see him again.  
  
~*~  
  
Ok then, that's it for now! Hope you liked it! And sorry I haven't been updating my other fics, I'm being a lazy butt for now..  
  
*huggles Frodo plushie* 


	2. Taken away

Hey, if anything is wrong, I don't care! This is my fic and I'll do what I want with it! Heh, and anything with its characters! ^^  
  
-I do not own LOTR or any of its characters-  
  
~*~  
  
Upon setting foot on the threshold of Brandy Hall, Frodo spoke to Merry quietly.  
  
"Merry, I don't think we should tell anyone about Estel."  
  
Merry looked confused. "Why not?"  
  
"Because most hobbits would probably get very frightened if they knew men were walking around the Shire!" He hissed back.  
  
Merry sighed and finally agreed. "Alright then, I won't tell anybody if you won't. Pinky sware?" He held out his little finger to Frodo. Frodo gladly took it with his own, wrapping it around the smaller one.  
  
"Pinky sware." He said. And with that, they both went to their own rooms, ready for a good night sleep. Well, after a small meal at the Brandy Hall kitchen.  
  
~*~  
  
The next day brang gloom to the hobbits. In the middle of the day, the clouds became grey and dark, promising bad weather. Frodo and Merry stayed inside, Merry being so scared of thunderstorms, Frodo stayed inside with him. Frodo and Merry played chess and other games all through the day in Frodo's room, content with staying inside. Many hours later, Merry's father Saradoc Brandybuck came in to tell them to go to bed.  
  
Merry yawned widely and stretched. "I guess Daddy is right, Frodo. Goodnight." And with a small wave to his cousin, he left Frodo's room. Frodo got dressed and got into bed, pulling the covers snuggly around himself. A distant rumble of thunder was heard, and a streek of lightning.  
  
Frodo continued to hear those distant rumbles as he fell slowly into sleep. He dreampt about many things. Elves, Men, Dwarves, Estel, Merry, and Bilbo. Though he didn't know what an Elf or a Dwarf looked like, he could imagine from his dearest Uncle's drawings.  
  
But he was suddenly jostled from his dreams by the sinking of his bed on his side as another body crawled into it. He sat up and looked at the figure sitting next to him on it's knees, it's hands on it's small knees. He squinted in the dark, trying to see who it was. The figure spoke just as another forked lightening streaked the night sky, sending an enormous explosion of thunder after it. It was Merry.  
  
"Frodo! I'm scared!" He jumped into Frodo's arms as the thunder boomed. Frodo held him tightly, feeling him quiver all over. Another forked lightning fell from the heavens, followed by another thunder clap. And then the rain started falling down it heavy sheets, pattering against the windows loudly.  
  
Merry whimpered and shivered harder. Frodo tightened his arms around his young cousin, and started rocking back and forth slowly. Merry started to sob, jumping in fright whenever another thunder clap shook the ground.  
  
"Shhh.. It's ok, Mer. It's ok." Frodo whispered into his cousin's leaf- shaped ear. And he started to sing to him soothingly in elvish.  
  
Merry calmed down somewhat, shaking with silent sobs. He nestled onto Frodo's lap more comfortably, and put his head onto his elder cousin's chest. He listened to Frodo's heart beat, and felt each slow breath he took. It was so soothing alltogether. He let Frodo's rithmick heartbeat lull him slowly to sleep, his breaths evening out and deepening.  
  
Frodo eased his small cousin onto his side, and covered them both with the covers. Merry curled up into a ball, his sandy curls tickling Frodo's chin. Frodo put his arm about Merry, and put his face into the unruly curls. He slowly drifted off to sleep, the deep rumbles of thunder seeming nothing to him.  
  
~*~  
  
The next day both Hobbits awoke refreshed, and dressed.  
  
"Frodo?" Merry said, following him to the Brandy Hall kitchen.  
  
"Yes, Merry?" Frodo answered, standing in line for breakfast, with Merry right behind him.  
  
"Why aren't you afraid of thunderstorms?"  
  
Frodo thought a second before replying. "I'm not afriad of them because I'm inside. Thunderstorms can't get inside, and plus we've got Uncle Sara watching over us to make sure we're safe."  
  
He picked up his tray and waited for Merry. Merry took his and followed Frodo to two empty seats and sat down with him.  
  
Merry thought about Frodo's answer for a moment. "Wow Frodo! You're right, I guess there really isn't much to worry about when Daddy is around."  
  
He hurredly ate his breakfast and went up for Second Breakfast. Frodo finished his and put away his tray. He walked back to where Merry sat, bending down to speak to him.  
  
"Aren't you having more, Frodo?" Merry asked.  
  
"No Merry, I'm not. I'm full! Honestly, with all the food you eat, there won't be any left in Middle Earth!" He and Merry both chuckled lightly. "I'm going to go outside and take a walk for a bit. I'll see you soon, ok Mer?"  
  
"But its so wet outside counsin!" Merry protested.  
  
"I'm not going to let that deter me in the lest bit. Bye Mer, see you soon." And with that, he left Brandy Hall Kitchen.  
  
"Bye Frodo!" Merry yelled after him.  
  
~*~  
  
Outside was cold and wet, and Frodo wrapped his cloak around himslef tighter. There were still some dreary dark clouds in the sky, but none looked like they promised rain. Frodo continued on, walking through the trees and admiring the beauty of it all. Trees surrounded him on all sides, but he always kept the road on his left, and stayed near it.  
  
He stopped suddenly when he heard voices. He knelt and crawled under some bushes on the edge of a small clearing, the same clearing he and Merry had found Estel in. But the Men were nothing like Estel. They were Ruffians, Frodo could tell immdeiatly by the look of them.  
  
There were three of them, all with long black greasy hair, bristly unshaven faces, and grey eyes. All wore terrible looking, extremely dirty clothes, splattered with mud and dust and who knows what else. They had long swords at their hips, and daggers on their belts. Their packs each lay a few feet from where they sat, leaning against the base of an elm. They were talking together, in not so quiet voices.  
  
"Aron! What do you mean you could take one of those rangers? Pah! You can't even take me!" The oldest looking one retorted.  
  
The one named Aron glared at the oldest one. "I bet I could!"  
  
"You want to try right now? I'll beat you terribly!" The man said.  
  
Aron was about to throw something back, but the youngest looking one cut in.  
  
"Hey! Cut it out! We can't have ourselves killing eachother!"  
  
They both settled down a bit, looking away in anger. "I could still take you." Aron murmered. The eldest one stood up and was about to lay hands on Aron's throat, but was stopped when the youngest took hold of the man's hands and made him stay still.  
  
"Elomier! Stop it! Don't you dare lay a hand on my brother! Don't speak of this anymore you two!" He let go of Elomier's hands and pushed the man back down into a sitting position, sitting back down where he had before after a moment.  
  
They continued to talk about other things, mostly about who could take who on, and who would win. None of this interest Frodo much, so he crawled back out of the bushes, and continued crawling for fear of the three men seeing him. But his need for silence was again shot down by his knee, landing on a twig.  
  
SNAP!  
  
The twig snapped into two pieces under his knee with what seemed like a deafening sound to him. The men in the clearing froze and listened intently. Frodo stilled, his heart racing.  
  
"Elomier! Did you hear that?" Came the voice of the youngest. "Somethings out there!"  
  
"Yah, I heard that Thelin! I think it came from the bushes!" Elomier replied.  
  
The sounds of swords being taken from their hilts came to Frodo's sharp ears, and the loud sounds of Men's feet. Thelin's head appeared over the bushes, and his grey eyes settled on Frodo in wonder. Their eyes locked, and stayed that way for a moment. Frodo could tell that the other two men were behind him waiting for something to happen.  
  
Thelin looked Frodo over, wondering at his appearance. Was it an Elf? No, it couldn't be. Elves didn't have curly hair and big hairy feet. And they most certainly weren't that small. But what was it? It was so fair, dark curly locks falling on his forehead, large blue eyes that seemed an ocean deep, smooth pale skin.  
  
Thelin reached his hand over the bushes and it fastened on Frodo's ankle. Frodo cried out, and leaped back, struggling against his captor. But with no trouble at all, Thelin stood up, letting Frodo hang upside down from his ankle.  
  
Aron and Elomier rushed over to see what Thelin had. Their eyes widened as they took in Frodo's appearance. The same thoughts that Thelin had had were racing though their heads. After a few moments, Aron broke the silence.  
  
"What do you reckon it is, Elomier?" He asked.  
  
"I don't know, Aron. 'Tis a fair one, looks like an Elf. But what Elf has big furry feet?" He grabbed Frodo's other foot and showed Aron. Frodo angrily pulled his foot out of the man's grasp.  
  
"Do you reckon it's a Halfling?" Thelin asked, looking Frodo over again.  
  
A few moments passed before Elomier answered. "I suppose it is. Very fair one though, fairest I've ever seen!"  
  
Frodo was starting to get dizzy, the blood was rushing to his head. He was getting a pounding headache, and his vision was starting to blur a little. Thelin, seeing Frodo's face turning red, turned Frodo right side up, and set him on his feet, putting his hands firmly on the small shoulders. Frodo leaned against his leg for a moment, waiting for the trees to stop spinning.  
  
"What do we do with 'im?" Aron asked, watching the hobbit closely.  
  
Elomier thought for a few moments. "I say we sell 'im! He would be worth a lot, looking the way he does!" Aron nodded in agreement, grinning widely. Thelin didn't reply, rubbing the small arms of the halfling.  
  
Frodo, upon hearing this, opened his eyes widely to find that the dizzyness was gone. "No! Let me go!" He struggled to get free of Thelin's grasp, and succeeded. He started to run, but failed miserably when he felt large arms wrap aorund his small chest, pinning his arms to his sides, and felt himself being held firmly against a large chest.  
  
He struggled hard, twisting and kicking, tearing and yelling. All the while the strong arms of Thelin held him tight and never let go. Though Thelin was finding it hard to hold him, he held him hard, almost crushing the young hobbit unintentionally, making him struggle more. All Frodo knew was that all that denied him escape were the strong arms that held him, and it was all he could do to try and make them let go.  
  
Tears were sliding down Frodo's pale cheeks now, and his cries were strangled by his small sobs.  
  
"P-please! Let m-me g-go!" He struggled until he was well out of energy, his cheeks wet with tears and his face flushed.  
  
Thelin felt the small body go limp in his arms, Frodo's small head resting on his arm, his sleeve wet with tears. The tiny body in his arms trembled with silent sobs, quiet tears falling from the closed eyelids.  
  
Thelin moved the hobbit into a more comfortable position,cradling him to his chest.  
  
"What do we do with him? Do we really have to sell him?" Thelin asked.  
  
"Yes!" Both Aron and Elomier said in unison.  
  
Thelin watched a tear sliding down the hobbits flushed face for a moment, thinking hard and fast. Frodo opened his bleary eyes, fastening his large blue ones on Thelin's grey ones, a single tear streaking down his alreay extremely wet face. Thelin suddenly got an idea.  
  
He turned to the other two. "Let me sell him. I'll go to Bree right now, and sell him for the highest price I get. I'll take him alone, while you two stay here and do whatever."  
  
"The highest price?" Elomier said.  
  
Thelin nodded his head in response.  
  
"How long will it take you to get to Bree?" Aron asked.  
  
"Not very long. About a day, maybe more." Thelin replied.  
  
Aron and Elomier looked at each other for a long moment, seeming to have a silent conversation with their minds. They both turned back to Thelin, to see him watching them expectantly.  
  
"Alright." Elomier finally said. "You've got five days. If you don't get back by then, with the money, we're taking over and you better hope we never see you again."  
  
Aron handed Thelin his pack. "You're leaving tonight, Thelin. Good bye, and come back soon."  
  
Thelin passed Frodo to Aron for a minute, and Aron took him, hugging him to his chest. Thelin slung his pack onto his back, and tightened the straps.  
  
"I'll see you two later." He took Frodo back, again cradling him to his big chest.  
  
And with that, he started off, walking through the brush and leaving the other two men in the clearing.  
  
~*~  
  
Another chapter done, another chapter played. Kinda a long chapter. Yes fluffy at the beginning, to give Frodo a nice life before the horror comes.  
  
Bet ya didn't see this comin, did ya? Did ya?  
  
Well, anyways, see you next chapter!  
  
Read and review please! 


	3. Brother

-I do not own LOTR or any of its characters. But Thelin, Aron, and Elomier are mine. Don't use them for anything.-  
  
~*~  
  
Aron and Elomier stared after Thelin long after he was out of sight, musing on things. Elomier finally sat, pulling Aron down with him. They both silently took food out of their packs for lunch, munching on the food thoughtfully. Aron broke the silence once more.  
  
"We should've kept 'im. Twas a beautiful hobbit." He said, his voice muffled by a mouth full of cheese.  
  
"Yah, but think of all the money we'll get from 'im! Men who would never have thought about getting in bed with another man would be tempted!"  
  
Aron looked at his companion ruefully. "Which is why we should 'ave kept 'im!"  
  
"We aren't going to keep him, and that's that! 'Sides, we need the money!"  
  
"But-" Aron was cut off by Elomier.  
  
"No, Aron. We aren't going to keep him." Elomier said this firmly, with a dangerous hint in his voice. Aron backed off, knowing how short a temper Elomier had. They boh continued their meal in silence.  
  
They went the whole day in silence, going on into the night too. They went to bed in silence, their stomachs full of rabbit. Aron waited in his bedroll until his companion's breathing became slow and even, his mind made up. When he was absolutely sure Elomier was asleep, he got slowly out of his bedroll, and rolled it up and strapped it to his pack. He gathered his weapons as quietly as he could and strapped them to his bealt. He gathered some food out of Elomier's pack, and put it into his own. He slung his pack onto his back, tightening the straps slowly.  
  
With one last look at his companion, he walked off into the night, being as quiet as a man could be in the dark night of the woods.  
  
~*~  
  
Of course when Frodo did not return after many hours of absence at Brandy Hall, Merry went into a panic. *He said he would be back soon! And it's now near time for bed! What do I do? What do I do!?*  
  
Of course not one other hobbit had noticed the absence of the young hobbit, them being so busy, and them not really paying much attention to him anyway.  
  
Merry ran outside and into the woods, looking frantically about. "Frodo! Frodo! Where are you!?" He yelled into the darkness. The only answer was the deathly stillness of the night, not even the chirp of the crickets answering him.  
  
Merry searched the woods for about five more minutes, but his search was in vain. He could find Frodo nowhere. He ran back to Brandy Hall, and was making his way to his father's room. He eventually got there, though it seemed to take him years, but in reality it only took him about a minute.  
  
He pounded on the door fretfully, wondering if the door would ever open. It finally did, and the concerned and tired face of his father and master of Brandy Hall poked out.  
  
"What is it, Merry?" He immediately opened the door and let Merry in. He looked down at his young son Merry, worried at the panic stricken look on his face.  
  
"Frodo is gone! I can't find him anywhere!" Merry said, tears springing to his grey eyes. Saradoc Brandybuck immediately froze and stood looking at his boy in horror. What would Frodo's parents say if they knew he had lost their only son!? What would he do?! They had to find him straight away!  
  
"Ok, Merry, ok." Sara said, trying to stay composed. "Calm down, Merry, calm down. We're going to look for Frodo."  
  
And that's just what they did. Sara immediately got a search party of hobbits to go look for Frodo. He himself went out to look for Frodo, after first getting his pony from the stables. His creamy colored pony, named Ada after his best friend from childhood. Ada seemed to understand the importance of this, and stayed still while Sara was adjusting the saddle on her back to his liking.  
  
"Daddy!" A small but loud voice came from right behind him. Sara started and looked behind himself. There stood Merry, trembling but determined. "I'm going with you!"  
  
"No, Merry, you can't. Just leave this to the adults, we know how to handle this." Sara said firmly to his only son.  
  
"I'm coming, Da. And there is nothing you can do to stop me. I'll follow you, you know I will." Seeing the look on his father's face, he continued, "Besides, I saw Frodo last, and I know where he likes to go. I can help more than any of the other grown-ups can." And with that, he moved to stand next to his father, awaiting his approval.  
  
Saradoc sighed and groaned inwardly. "Fine, Merry. You can come, I know you won't take no for an answer." He lifted the small lad onto the saddle of the horse, and climbed up behind him. "Ok then, let's go."  
  
He kicked the ponie's sides, making the pony neigh and move into a trot. Saradoc guided the pony onto the trail and into the woods. Ghaslty shadows appeared on every side of them, making the trees look like they were moving. They rode on through the forest for a very long time, every few minutes calling out Frodo's name.  
  
Suddenly Merry saw a light up ahead, glowing peacefully and sending the terrible shadows away where it fell.  
  
"Daddy! Look, a light! Let's go see what it is!" Merry said excitedly.  
  
Sara agreed, and earged Ada forward, but inwardly he wondered if he really should. They neared it, Ada seemingly moving faster with every step, wanting to be near the warm light.  
  
They finally got near enough to it to see what it was. Saradoc gasped, and tried to move the pony back, but Merry stopped him and slid off the pony, running into the small clearing. The clearing contained a small fire, it's warmth washing over everyone who was near it. But that was not what had made Merry's father gasp.  
  
The clearing contained another thing, resting snuggly by the fire, his chest rising and falling slowly, his eyes shut. Sara got off of Ada and tied her to a tree quickly, and ran after Merry, wondering if his son had gone mad. He stayed a few feet away, and watched with wide eyes as his son shook the man's big shoulder.  
  
The man's grey eyes opened immediately, and looked around to see who it was that had awoken him from his slumber. His eyes settled upon Merry, and he sat up and smiled at him.  
  
"Hullo Merry!" Then, seeing the panic that shone clearly in the lad's eyes, he added concernedly, "What is it?" He looked around and his eyes found Merry's father, standing uncertainly a few feet away. Saradoc backed away a few more steps at the man's piercing gaze. The man watched his movements, but only for a second, because Merry's reply hit him hard and he looked back at Merry with wide surprised eyes.  
  
"Frodo's missing! We can't find him!" Merry said, the words spilling out like a book falling from clumsy hands.  
  
"What!?" Estel cried. Frodo gone!? How could this be!?  
  
"We've sent out a search party to look for him, but we've had no luck! He didn't come back to Brandy Hall all day!" Merry said.  
  
Estel stood up and started to gather his things together. "I'm going to look for him." He said, more to himself than anyone else. *I'm going to find him, no matter what it takes!* He strapped his sword to his belt and slung his pack onto his back.  
  
"Can I come with you?" Merry asked.  
  
"No. You go with your father and look for him." Estel replied, glancing at him.  
  
Saradoc went forward and stood squarely, looking at the man critically. "Why would you want to look for Frodo?" He asked.  
  
Estel turned around, and looked the hobbit over for a moment. "Because I am a ranger, and it is my job to protect you hobbits at all costs." He turned around and walked off, pausing at the bushes that lined the clearing. He turned around and gave the hobbit a critical look. "Besides, Frodo is a very special hobbit and my friend. I would hate to not see him again. And I know you would too." And with that, he turned around and marched off into the darkness of the woods, leaving Saradoc a bit stunned, and Merry grinning from ear to leaf-shaped ear.  
  
Merry knew in his heart that if anyone could find his dear cousin, it had to be Estel. He walked back to the pony and waited for his father to help him on, so they could continue to look for Frodo.  
  
~*~  
  
Thelin was becoming concerned. The little halfling in his arms had not moved or spoken at all since thay had been in the clearing with Thelin's companions. Thelin was beginning to wonder if he had hurt him in the struggle.  
  
Frodo's large morning-glory eyes were wide open, staring ahead deep in silence.  
  
*What is going on? Sell me? What does that mean? Is selling a hobbit legal? To who? For what? Is anyone looking for me? Does anyone care?* These questions and many more raced through his head. The last was answered by a small and sad voice in his head; *No.*  
  
Tears sprang to Frodo's eyes, and they slipped down his cheeks once more. Tears of sorrow, fear, worry, and exhuastion. Thelin was starting to feel a bit tired, and no doubt the halfling in his arms was, and as these thoughts were going through his head, they suddenly stopped when he heard a faint sniffle from the small form in his arms. He stopped walking, and looked down at the small face of the poor hobbit.  
  
His eyes were full and overflowing with silent tears, and he was sniffling every few seconds. Thelin sighed and sat down under a large oak tree, settling the halfling on his lap, and leaning aginst the tree. He started rubbing the small back, rithmically and soothingly, though it seemed to do nothing.  
  
The hobbit shook his hand off, and got off of his lap, crawling over to another tree about three feet away, and sat under it at the tree's roots, tucking his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, putting his chin on them. But he was determined not to look at Thelin, turning his head away and staring off into the distance.  
  
Thelin sighed and watched the hobbit with a sinking heart. What was he to do? This hobbit would never trust him, not after what he and his companions had done. But he had to try to get him to trust him, had to try his hardest.  
  
He started to crawl over to the hobbit, being cautious and trying to show that he proposed no threat to him. But when he got a foot away from the young lad, he heard a sound he had never heard anyone make before. The hobbit was growling low in his throat at him, glaring at the trees in front of him, warning Thelin to stay away from him. Actually growling at him. Though the hobbit never looked at him, Thelin got the message and moved back, staying close enough so that he could watch the hobbit's movements closely, but far away enough to show that he posed no threat.  
  
The hobbit kept growling until he was sure Thelin would make no move toward him, and after that he watched the man wearily out of the corner of his eye, monitering his every movement.  
  
Thelin was aware of this, noting the hobbit's protectiveness of himself. He decided to start a conversation, wondering if he could coax the lad to talk.  
  
"Little One, are you ok?" Thelin asked quietly.  
  
The hobbit turned his head to stare at him incredulously, though Thelin could see a hint of curiousity hidden beneath that. The hobbit didn't make a sound. Thelin could tell that the hobbit's mind was racing, wondering if he should speak, and a few other things Thelin couldn't identify.  
  
"Little One?" Thelin whispered.  
  
The hobbit's eyes flashed. "Do not call me that." He said angrily, glaring at the man.  
  
Thelin was taken aback, wondering why the halfling didn't like him calling him that.  
  
"Why not?" Thelin asked.  
  
The hobbit turned full toward him and got to his hands and knees, staring fully at Thelin, his eyes flashing angrily.  
  
"Only one man has called me that before. He was the first man I'd ever seen, and so far the nicest. I do not want that name soiled by my kidnapper." He turned away angrily and put his forehead on his knees.  
  
Thelin was stunned, utterly stunned. He had met another man before, that man had called him Little One, like he had just done, and had been very kind to this hobbit, unlike him and his other two companions.  
  
Thelin looked down shamedly for a moment, and crawled closer, about a foot, so that he was about six inches away from the small figure. This started a new eruption of low growling from the hobbit, and a hard glare, but this time he did not back off. He crawled right up to him, and gathered him into his arms, holding him tightly.  
  
The hobbit's eyes widened and he gasped in surprise, then cried out in fright and surprise. He threw himself against the man's arms, struggling to get out of his grasp.  
  
He caught the man by surprise, and by this, he quickly got out of the large arms that held him, and backed up slowly, a look of disbelief on his face, his eyes getting even wider, if that was possible.  
  
He backed up until his back hit the base of a tree, and he stopped there, utterly trapped and at the mercy of this evil man. Thelin sighed slowly and crawled toward the hobbit, making the hobbit back into the tree more, trying to get away. The hobbit started shaking all over, utterly terrified.  
  
But Thelin would not give up, he kept crawling toward the hobbit, whispering words of comfort, trying to calm him. But when his hand landed on the hobbit's foot, he knew that would never happen.  
  
The hobbit jumped up in sheer fright, kicked Thelin's hand away, and ran off.  
  
"Gah! Come back here!" Thelin yelled, and jumped up and ran after him.  
  
His long strides were only matched by the quick and silent feet of Frodo. Frodo ran as quick and silently as he could, hoping to loose the man, but his hope was in vain. A quick shadow jumped out of the bushes beside him, and crashed into him, pinning him to the ground, his arms under the large hands of Thelin.  
  
"What did you do that for!?" Thelin asked exasperatedly.  
  
Frodo struggled hard, kicking and yelling, scratching at the man's long arms. He finally got the man to let go, kicking him hard and effectively on the calf. The man doubled back, leaning over, clutching at his calf in pain. Darn, those hobbit feet hurt.  
  
Frodo siezed his chance and jumped up. He looked around quickly, and got an idea. He climbed onto the low branch of a tree, grabbing the next branch and climbing onto it, and he did that until he reached a large wide branch, barely in the reach of Thelin, he sat on it, keeping a weary eye on the man.  
  
When Thelin finally got his breathing under control, he looked up at the hobbit above him with disbelief in his eyes. Frodo glared at him and stuck out his tongue, a very childish thing to do. Frodo might not have run away, and might have been a bit nicer, and would have trusted Thelin, if he had not been treated so harshly and heard the words spoken in the clearing.  
  
Thelin stood up and reached for the hobbit, his hand brushing Frodo's foot. Frodo gasped and moved his foot higher up, glaring hard at the man.  
  
But a sudden sound halted everything. Frodo looked around wildly, wondering with dread what else could possibly go wrong.  
  
A yelp brought his eyes down to the ground, on Thelin. He now lay on the gorund rubbing the back of his head, stunned. A man stood over him, holding the hilt of a sword tightly, the hilt facing downwards. He must have hit Thelin with it.  
  
Frodo squinted at the man, then moved back and pressed himself aginst the tree trunk in fear and surprise. It was Aron.  
  
Aron slid his sword into its sheath on his belt, and moved to the tree in which Frodo sat, quivering all over. He jumped up, and caught Frodo's ankle, and as the gravity pulled him down, he took Frodo with him.  
  
Frodo came crashing to the ground, falling on top of the man, throwing him down to the ground. He lay on top of the man's chest, stunned for a moment. The man recovered first, and wrapped his arms around Frodo.  
  
It was time for Frodo to start struggling again, and he did. He struggled as hard as he could. But he was so wary from the previous struggle, he fell limp in the man's arms barely after he had started.  
  
Thelin suddenly rose, and kicked the man squarely on the back. The man gasped, and let Frodo go. Frodo crawled to the base of the tree he had hidden in, and fell unconciously to the ground, his energy spent.  
  
Both men had their swords out, clashing against eachother, neither gaining better ground. They hit eachother hard, every single throw of their swords being defended against and thrown off. But finally, Aron Thelin down, and again hit him over the head with the hilt of his sword.  
  
He leaned down over him, smiling a crooked grin. Thelin, half concious, gasped. "Aron!?" He said in desbelief. He had been so engrossed in the heat of the battle, he had not noticed it was his own older brother he was fighting.  
  
Aron smiled even wider. "Yes, brother. I'm here, but not for you, oh no. I'm here for the halfling. I think he will make a nice little partner for a while." He strode over to where Frodo lay, picking him up with one arm. Frodo did not struggle in the least bit, laying limply in Aron's strong grasp. Aron walked over to his brother, grinning braggingly.  
  
"Goodbye, Thelin. Have fun." He again hit his brother over the head with the hilt of his sword, and Thelin fell to the ground, eyes drooping, falling slowly into unconciousness.  
  
Aron looked at the limp hobbit in his arms, and patted himself on the back mentally for a job well done. Sheathing his sword, he walked out of the clearing hugging his prize tightly to his chest.  
  
~*~  
  
Wow. Nine pages typed! That's longer than the other two chapters! *pats her own back*  
  
Ok then, I know you liked it!  
  
So read and review and you can have your next chapter soon! Bwa! 


	4. Elf

-I do not own LOTR or any of it's characters, but Aron Thelin and Elomier are mine! Ok then? Ok.-

~*~

Estel made his slow progress through the woods, keeping low to the ground, looking for tracks. He had been searching for over an hour, his hope ebbing slowly away as every moment passed.

He thought of the day he and the Little One had met. It was very strange, meeting this particular hobbit, then going to look for him. The hobbit had been very scared of him at first, but when he had noted that his name was indeed elvish, he had become very friendly. Though Merry hadn't seemed quite as nice. Merry had been very suspicious of him, not trusting him in the least bit. And how could he blame the lad? He was a man, not to be trusted by a hobbit! He was so much bigger and stronger than they!

Estel mused on this a bit more, when his eyes landed upon a small clearing. He straightened, and walked to the center of it. A dying fire was held in the center of it, the ashes churned to make sure no more flames sprang to life without anyone's knowing. Next to the fire were small signs of three Men sitting around the fire. Small scraps of food were scattered on the ground around the fire, the three Men not being very good at keeping food in their mouths. 

He looked around the clearing some more, and found that behind some bushes there had been someone hiding there. The size of the imprints on the ground seemed just right for a hobbit like Frodo. And then he saw the footprints of the men in front of the bush. He studied the area for a moment, pondering many things. And then his mind finally clicked...

Frodo was gone! Taken! Kidnapped! What was he to do! Where had they gone, what were they going to do to them!?

Estel followed the footprints of one man, who seemed to have walked away from the others. No, not just walked away. He must be taking Frodo with him. But to where? 

Estel followed the boot-prints, not knowing where they were leading him, but wherever they were, he was willing to follow to get Frodo back.

~*~

Frodo slowly came to awareness, hazy and grey at first, but it became clearer and clearer with every passing moment. He vaguely became aware of his head laying in someone's lap. Big, like Estel. But certainly not inviting and warm, and kind. This lap was hard and cold, not at all the lap he liked.

As his mind became clearer, he suddenly and disgustedly became aware of something wrong.. Very wrong..

A large hand was slowly running along his chest, running down and then up, dipping lower and lower every second, rubbing slowly. And then suddenly, terribly, the hand ran down fast below his waist line, between his legs.

Frodo sat up with a horrified cry. He may be a bit young, but he knew that was not meant to happen. The hand stopped and found a place on his shoulder, as if to comfort him, but he found no such thing in it. This man had ill intent, and he knew it. Aron looked at him inoccently and cheerfully, and Frodo was disgusted.

"Ah, you have finally awoken! I was waiting for that, for you are not much fun asleep!" Aron said, smiling, trying to keep the bad nature from his face, but Frodo could see it clearly. Frodo knew what this man meant, and he was terrified. He had to go! He couldn't - _WOULDN'T_ let this happen!

"I know of what you speak, and there will be no such happening!" Frodo lifted his foot up, drew it back, and kicked Aron hard in the gut with the speed of an elf. Aron doubled over with pain, his large hands gripping his stomach in pain. Frodo shot up and took off before Aron could even move.

After a few seconds, Aron got up, one hand gripping his stomach, and yelled after the qiuck hobbit, "Hey! Come back here!" And off he went, chasing Frodo through the trees, his feet pounding hard on the ground. Somewhere near in the woods, pointed ears twitched slightly, and a fair head turned in the direction of the terribly loud sounds that hurt his ears so.

Aron was on the hobbits' heels, and to Frodo's dismay, he was heading straight for a dead end, a small river lay not more than three meters away from the two runners. 

"Come back here, you-" But Aron could not finish his sentence, for at that moment, an arrow flew through the air and embeded itself in his shoulder. With a cry and a groan, he fell to the ground clutching at his shoulder.

Frodo looked back with surprise at Aron, leaning over with an arow in his shoulder, desperatly pulling at it, trying without success to get it out. But that was Frodo's mistake. Frodo had not stopped running, and no more than a second after he had looked back, he tripped over a large root of an Elm tree protruding from the ground. He fell with a cry, tumbling head over heels, straight into the river.

With a splash, he fell into the river, sending water everywhere. He was flailing about in the water, not knowing in the least bit how to swim, terrified of the water because of the unfortunate drowning of his parents. He saw something that completely took him off his guard however, and he stopped his flailing for a moment. An elf, tall and slender, with light blue eyes and white-blonde hair was racing towards him, casting down his weapons as he went. But that one off-guard moment proved ill for him. He was swept under the current of the water, wetness closing over his curly head.

He clawed desperately at the water surrounding him on all sides, having taken no more than one breath before being completely swallowed by the water. The current was taking him further down river, and he tried as hard as he could to stay in one place, and get to the surface at once. And then he felt something wrap around his ankle. He looked down and saw a long and thin plant had somehow wrapped itself around his small ankle and was keeping him from moving further downstream. Suddenly he heard a splash, muffled by the pounding water in his ears, and he saw the elf again.

The elf was looking around for him, completely submerged in the water, his blonde hair floating lazely around his fair face. Frodo cried out, and was rewarded with water flowing into his mouth. Frodo coughed, the terrible tasting water almost making him gag. The elf did see him, however, and swam toward him. Frodo faught against the darkness slowly taking over his vision, for he couldn't breath at all, his breath had been taken out of him when he had tried to get the elf's attention.

The elf saw this, and swam faster toward the hobbit. He could see that he couldn't breath, and started kicking his long legs harder. He soon reached the halfling, taking his long knife from his boot and cutting the halfling free from the plant. The plant let go, hacked in two, and the halfling floated away from in, barely moving because he was so tired. 

The elf swam forward before the current could take the small hobbit again, and grabbed him around the waist. Once he had an arm securely around the slim waist of the hobbit, he kicked off from the ground with all his might kicking his legs hard and using his free arm to help. Soon they broke the surface, and he swam to shore, careful to keep the hobbit's head over the water. 

The elf got onto land finally, hauling Frodo up with him, and holding him, waiting for something to happen. The hobbit wasn't breathing. In a panic, he started rubbing his slender hand up and down the hobbits' spine, to the middle of the shoulders, and back down again. He was doing this for only a few moments, when the hobbit opened his eyes and started coughing nonstop, coughing and spluttering, water falling out of his mouth and onto the dry earth. The elf soothingly continued rubbing his back until the coughing subsided, and that was not for a long time.

When the coughing did finally stop, the hobbit turned his head and looked at the elf with curiosity and a hint of surprise. But before he could say anything, something a few feet away moved suddenly, and a loud groan was heard. Frodo and the elf's heads both whipped around in the direction of the movement. Frodo gasped and stood up shakily. It was Aron.

"We've got to go, now!" The elf stared at him for a moment in curiousity. "_Please_! We've got to go now, before he wakes up!" 

The elf looked back at the man, who was now trying to sit up, and back at Frodo. He nodded in acknowledgement, and picked up Frodo an set him on his hip. He then started off at a trot through the woods, careful not to trip over anything. Frodo was keenly aware of everything, every movement, every shadow, he didn't want anything else to happen anymore.

Suddenly a sharp _CRACK!_ Sounded not to far ahead of them, and Frodo's eyes widened, _not again!_

"Stop! Stop!" He squeeked to the elf. The elf started to slow down, and Frodo jumped out of his arms onto the ground, his knees bending on contact. Suddenly something burst through the bushes in front of them, but Frodo didn't stop to see what it was. In a split second, he had taken off and was flying through the woods. His instinct told him to do something, get away from whatever it was. And he did just that.

Frodo stopped at a large ash tree and started climbing. He climbed as high as he dared to, which was about eight feet from the ground. Enough to terrify any regular hobbit. But Frodo was no regular hobbit, and he stayed there, backing up until his back hit the trunk of the tree. He drew his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, setting his chin on his knees and looking down warily. 

"Frodo! Frodo! Come back here!" Strangely that voice sounded familiar.

Two men and an elf burst through the underbrush, frantically looking around for him. The elf was the one who had saved him before, the other was Thelin, and to the hobbit's utter surprise, the other man was Estel. Frodo was overjoyed to see Estel down there, but was terribly frightened that Thelin was also down there. Despite his excitement, he decided to keep quiet and try not to make any sound.

"Frodo! Frodo! Where are you?" Estel yelled.

"Frodo! Frodo!" Thelin yelled. Why was Thelin looking for him? This was starting to get complex again.

But the elf hadn't said a word. Not a single word. Frodo looked around for the elf, and to got a terrible shock when he found him on the branch next to him. Frodo cried out, so aghast was he to see him there, and to the horror of the elf, he fell off the branch.

~*~

Ha ha! I left you guys hanging! Well, your just gonna have to wait and review some more if you want the next chapter, won't cha? Sorry, I just love leaving people hanging! It's so much fun!

Ok then, read and review, because that will make me type much fast, and you know it! ^^


	5. Fall

You probably know who the elf is, in fact if you don't you're probably not the sharpest person in the world. Heh heh, just kidding. ^^;

-I do not own LOTR or any of its characters. But Thelin, Elomier, and Aron are mine.-

~*~

Elomier was angry, and maybe a bit panicked. Aron was gone, and he didn't know where he was. He grumbled as he stirred the ashes of the fire to make sure it wouldn't burn anymore. He got up and put everything into his pack, slinging it over his back and walking off in search of Aron. 

He thought to himself on the way. Where could he have gone? Why did he go? Why was it so important that I couldn't come with him? And then he remembered something from the other night.

"We should've kept 'im. Twas a beautiful hobbit." 

  
And it clicked. Aron had gone after his younger brother and the halfling. Elomier growled in anger. _He wasn't supposed to get the halfling! We were supposed to sell that thing and use the money! _Elomier glared at the trees staring innocently at him, disgusted. _How could he do this to me?!_

He continued on through the forest, looking for any signs of his missing companion.

~*~

Merry looked around from his perch high atop Ada. His father Sara was looking around grimly, watching for any signs of Frodo. They had continued on, going in the direction of Estel, but finding nothing.

Merry sighed. "Da, do you think Frodo is ok?" He asked, twisting around to look at Sara.

Saradoc looked down at his son in thought. He sighed too. "I don't know, Merry."

Merry frowned and turned back around, gazing to the front of him. _I hope he is ok. I don't know where he is, or what has happened to him, but I hope he is ok._ Merry suddenly saw something up ahead, and heard voices. Sara stopped Ada behind a large oak tree, getting off and tethering her there, and helping Merry down. Merry and his father peered cautiously out behind the tree. Merry could see Estel, and another man, and an elf. Merry covered his mouth so as not to gasp in awe and wonder. An actual elf!

"Frodo! Frodo! Where are you?" Estel yelled, looking around.

"Frodo! Frodo!" The other man yelled. Merry saw the two men continue searching and heard them yelling out to Frodo too, asking where he was. But Merry's eyes were fixed on the elf. The elf was looking up into the trees, seeming to see something the others couldn't. And he could.

The elf started to climb a big ash tree, not making one mistake as he climbed without an effort onto each branch. Merry watched until the elf was completely out of his sight, the leaves of the tree completely swallowing him. But Merry kept his eyes glued on where he thought the elf must have stopped, and watched intently. Something was about to happen, he knew it.

Estel stopped just short of the ash's trunk, looking around. Suddenly a sharp cry emitted from somewhere in the tree's branches, and all heads turned towards it. A whole lot of crashing sounds could be heard, and several branchs snapped and fell to the ground, narrowly missing the ranger that stood under it. More cries of pain and fright were coming from above Estel, and he suddenly gasped. 

"Frodo!" He yelled as a small figure came into view, falling from the branches. One more cry was emitted from the figure before he slammed into Estel, sending both him and Estel falling to the earth. Several seconds passed without a sound or movement made. Frodo lay on top of Estel, both of them immobile. The elf was now kneeling next to them, putting his hand on Frodo's shoulder. Merry stood there in shock, his eyes wide, waiting for something to happen, someone to move. And to his sheer joy, not one, but both did.

Frodo suddenly groaned and sat up, Estel following suit. "Frodo, are you alright?" But before Frodo could say a word, Merry jumped out from behind the tree and ran to Frodo's side. The elf moved aside, watching curiously with a small smile on his face. 

"Frodo! Frodo! Where were you? Are you alright? What happened? Why did you go?" These questions stumbled from Merry's mouth in one hasty breath, and again before Frodo could speak, he suddenly found himself in the tight embrace of Merry. Frodo returned the embrace and tears streamed down both the hobbits' cheeks.

"Don't ever do that to me again, Frodo. I was so worried about you." Merry whispered into Frodo's ear. 

"I know Merry, I know. I'm sorry. I missed you." Frodo whispered back.

"I missed you to, cousin." Came the barely audible reply. Someone cleared their throat after a few moments of silence, and Merry and Frodo let go of eachother and looked up. Thelin was kneeling in front of Frodo, clear sorrow and self-hate in his eyes. Frodo backed up a bit, and Estel put his hand on his shoulder comfortingly. Not one person moved in the least bit, not a single sound was made. 

Then, "Frodo, I am sorry for what my companions and I did to you. I am sorry that you had to go through this. I am sorry for everything. Can you forgive me?" Thelin's head bent in shame. Everyone was now staring at Frodo, but Frodo's eyes were intently watching Thelin. Everybody was waiting for Frodo to say something, for something to happen.

Frodo smiled and said, "Of course I will forgive you." Thelin's head shot up in surprise, and Estel's eyes widened as he grew a bit stiff. "I know now that you didn't mean for any of this to happen. I can see it in your eyes." Thelin and Estel stared at him for a long time, complete silence once again settling over them. Then another throat was cleared and Frodo saw his Uncle Saradoc walking toward him. His Uncle sat down beside him and hugged him close, Frodo returning it tightly. 

"Where were you, Frodo? What happened?" He asked. 

"Well -" Frodo hesitated.

"I actually would like to know what happened and why you were running away from that man, straight into the river, Master Hobbit." The elf interrupted. Frodo looked up at him and smiled, and was about to reply when Estel beat him to it first.

"I don't think we should pressure him. Perhaps we should stay somewhere in the woods this one night, since it is already late, and I would like to check Frodo for injuries."

Since nobody seemed to have any rejections to that, Estel picked Frodo up and set him on his hip, signaling for everybody to follow him. Sara ran over to Ada and untethered her, leading her with him in the back of the group. Merry ran up to walk alongside Estel, who was talking quietly to Frodo.

"Are you sure you aren't hurt Little One?" Estel whispered concernedly.

"Yes, Estel, I am fine. I'm just a little cold." Frodo replied.

"And why shouldn't you be, Cousin? You're all wet!" Merry said. And he was right. Though Frodo had dried somewhat, his hair was still sticking to his forehead, and his shirt and breeches clung onto his body uncomfortably.

"Yes, Merry. I guess that's what I get for not looking where I'm going when I'm running. Fell right into a river!" Frodo replied. Estel chuckled lightly.

"Well, now you know not to do that anymore, don't you?" He said. Frodo nodded his head and smiled at the ranger. 

"So, I am hoping you will tell us what happened when we get there, won't you?" Frodo started at hearing the elf's voice right behind Estel and him. 

The elf shook with silent mirth for a second. "Maybe I shouldn't do that anymore." He finally said.

"Yes, I don't think you should." Frodo said. "So, what is your name, Master Elf?" 

"Legolas." He said simply. "Legolas Greenleaf."

"Frodo Baggins." Frodo said. "So is your father King Thranduil?"

The elf blinked in surprise for a second, then laughed. "You are a very smart hobbit, Master Baggins! Yes, he is my father." 

Frodo smiled. "Then I am not mistaken when I say you are the prince of Mirkwood, Legolas?"

Merry looked back at Legolas with wide eyes, and Estel just smiled. 

Legolas laughed again. "Yes, I am! How did you know that?"

"Bilbo knows a lot of stories." He replied with a smile. "Pleased to meet you Prince Legolas."

"Pleased to meet you too, Master Baggins." Legolas replied.

"Just Frodo, if you please."

"Alright then, Frodo. Just Legolas for me then."

Frodo grinned at Legolas for a minute, Legolas returning the gesture. Then Frodo put his head down on Estel's shoulder, looking boredly at the trees ahead of them.

Meanwhile, at the back of the group, Sara and Thelin were talking quietly. "What did you do that you're sorry for, Thelin?" Saradoc asked.

"You will know that soon." Thelin said quietly.

"It must have been something terrible if you needed to be that sorry." Sara said.

"You will know soon." Thelin repeated.

"But-" Saradoc started, but was cut off by Estel.

"Master Hobbit, I do believe you will know soon. And anyway, Thelin will not tell you no matter how long you keep pestering him, so I suggest you give up now."

Saradoc pouted, making everyone laugh. Ada whinnied and nudged Sara's shoulder. "Not now, Ada. You will get some food soon." Sardoc whispered in her ear, patting her nose.

And so they continued on, talking happily to eachother, unaware of who was out there in the night, angrily growling.

-To be continued..-

~*~

More cliffhangers for ya, you know I love 'em. I have to get off now, but I promise it won't be too long before another chapter goes up. Review and it will go up much faster!

Hey guys, by the way, could you tell me what AU is? I can't figure it out.

See ya next time!


	6. No matter where

-I do not own LOTR or any of its characters-  
  
~*~  
  
Elomier ran through the trees, weaving in and out, in and out. After a few minutes, he finally stopped and looked around. Pitch black nothingness greeted him. He could not see more than five feet in front of him. He sat down at the base of a weather-worn tree with a defeated sigh. Though he was still fuming about Aron's betrayal, he knew he could not go on with it being so dark. The rushing of water was heard somewhere to the left.  
  
He sat for a few minutes, musing things. Thelin took the halfling to Bree, no more than a day ago. When I awoke the next morning, Aron was gone. No doubt went to get the halfling back, no doubt to have fun with him. I don't think Thelin would have given the halfling up without a fight though, so Aron might not have him.  
  
Thelin got up, stretching out his long legs. He couldn't stay here and wait for something to happen, he needed to get out there. He started walking squinting his eyes, but no more than three steps later, he tripped over something very big and soft. Thelin sat up and backed away, afraid that he might have awoken a wolf or terrible beast of that kind. The thing groaned and moved slightly, putting the head of the thing into Elomier's vision. Elomier gasped, it was Aron! Elomier leaned over Aron and placed a hand on his shoulder. He gasped slightly and withdrew his hand. He peered at it, then realized what covered it. Blood!  
  
Elomier looked around Aron, searching for some kind of answer. He found his answer only a foot from Aron's injured shoulder. A blood covered arow, of elven make no doubt. Elomier growled, he never really had liked the elven folk. And now that on of them had hurt his companion, he would never like them. Never.  
  
Elomier knelt down and put a shaking hand on Aron's good shoulder. He gently shook it, calling out his name softly. Aron slowly opened blurry eyes, blinking until he saw what was before him. Elomier waited patiently for this, because he knew it might take a while.  
  
"Elomier?" Aron said softly.  
  
"Aron, you are injured. An elf shot at you, and you must have somehow gotten the arow out. Now, I need you to lie still so I can tend to your wound."  
  
Aron nodded feebly and let Elomier sit him up, and half-carry half-drag him to sit up against a tall Alder tree. Once Aron was up against the tree, Elomier slung his pack off of his back and started rummaging through it. After only a few moments, he found what he was looking for. He took out a needle and a very thin, rubbery looking thread, used especially for stitching up skin. And that was exactly what he was going to do.  
  
Elomier gently patted his comrade's face, for his eyes were slowly drooping by that time. "Aron? Aron!" Aron slowly opened his eyes fully, grey-blue pupils staring at him dully. "Aron," Elomier said slowly, so as to make sure Aron fully understood him. "I am going to sew up you wound. It may hurt, so be ready." Aron nodded slowly, his eyelids slowly drooping. Elomier patted him gently on the cheeks again. Aron's eyes went open halfway, unfocusing and focusing every few seconds. "I need you to stay awake for me, Aron, ok? Can you do that for me?" Aron nodded feebly, his dark locks falling over his forehead. Elomier gently pushed the locks out of Aron's face, and after cleaning it, he started, gently putting the needle through the tan skin an pulling it out again on the other side.  
  
Aron gasped a few times, and winced many, but when it was over, he thanked Elomier softly, and his eyelids closed fully. Elomier sat down next to his companion, not sure what to do next. He decided he should keep Aron warm, so he wrapped a blanket from his pack around him and kept his arm around him to make sure the blanket stayed in place. Aron slept on soundly.  
  
~*~  
  
Meanwhile, back with the others, Estel had found a nice clearing, nice enough to be able to slept in. Frodo had changed out of his wet cloths and into some dry ones (provided by Uncle Sara, which he had brought just in case), blushing the whole time, being the shy hobbit he is. He had sat by the fire (which was now crackling joyeously thanks to Legolas) for a little while, to dry off a bit more, before Estel suggested he get some rest. Merry was already sleeping, just inside the firelight, next to the great roots of an oak tree. Frodo protested some, saying he was fine and not tired, but Estel just picked him up and laid him down next to Merry. Merry opened his eyes slowly to catch a glimpse of Estel laying a blanket over him and his cousin, and he wrapped an arm around Frodo protectively and lovingly. Frodo turned around, so that he was lying down facing Merry, and smiled at him. "Hullo Merry," He said quietly, "Are you tired?" Merry nodded, his eyelids already drooping again. Frodo smiled even wider, yawning slowly and stretching out his short legs. "Goodnight, Mer." Frodo said quietly. He closed his eyes and buried his face under Merry's chin, his glossy curls, made even darker by the water, tickling his cousin's chin. Merry smiled wide, before setting his chin on his cousin's head and slowly drifted to sleep.  
  
Legolas watched this curiously, for he had never seen such behavior before. He tilted his head at Estel when he turned away from the sight. Estel had been watching too, but with a large smile of affection and familiarity on his face. Thelin was also watching curiously and confusedly, for he had also never seen such behavior before. Saradoc was lying back and watching the stars through a space uncovered by tree leaves and branches. He seemed unaware of what was going on, or he was uninterested. Estel laughed at the expressions on both Thelin and Legolas' faces, shaking his head.  
  
"Estel, what is this? I have never seen anyone or anything act like this before!" Legolas said quietly, crawling over to Estel and peering at the two sleeping cousins. "Are they lovers? For that is the only time I have seen this." Legolas glared at Estel when he started laughing once more.  
  
"Of course they are not lovers, Legolas! They are cousins!" Estel said, chuckling. Thelin still did not understand, at any rate, that answer had made him even more confused. And by the look on Legolas' face, he did not understand either.  
  
"But Estel, that still does not make sense. We do not act like that, even with a cousin!" Thelin said, brow crinkled into a frown.  
  
"Yes, but you are not a hobbit." Estel looked over at the two peacefully sleeping hobbits, a wide grin on his face. "Hobbits are a very affectionate and loving race. They are pure and simple, they do not think of this at all as wrong or dirty. This is the way they say, 'No matter where or when, I'll always be there for you.' They're cousins, and they're very close."  
  
Understanding dawned on Legolas and Thelins' faces. They smiled at the pair of cousins. Thelin crawled over and sat on the other side of Estel.  
  
Legolas spoke, "It does seem very loving. If only elves could do that without anyone thinking wrong of it, Middle - Earth might be a better place." Thelin and Estel nodded.  
  
And so they went on talking of such things, Saradoc joining them after about a half-hour. The night turned out very peaceful and quiet, the only things bothering them even a little a squirrel or two.  
  
~*~  
  
To be continued.  
  
((Yes, the evil will be continued. D Mwa ha ha!))  
  
-lilpip 


	7. Aron and Elomier

-I do not own LOTR or any of its characters.. To my great dread..

*hisses* But Elomier, Aron, and Thelin are mine! _Mine! _*drags them off somewhere*-

~*~

Frodo lay dreaming, but it was not a pleasant dream at all. His brow stayed furrowed and his breaths came a little unregularily, but other than that nothing indicated anyone of his nightmares. No one would have noticed anyway. Everyone lay sleeping peacefully around the dying embers of their small fire, some were even snoring softly. It was now very late at night, the moon high in the sky and the crickets chirping loudly. All the birds of the woods were now sleeping peacefully in their expertly made nests, some with tiny baby birds under their wing. Night animals were now out, searching for their meal and pausing to look at the sleepers with ominously glowing eyes and then continuing their search.

But poor Frodo was not feeling at peace at all, no matter what the small animals around him were. The animals that could hear his irregular breathing looked on with pity before scurrying away. Ever sine Frodo's parents had drowned, he had had nightmares every once in a great while, and every single one was worse than the last. And the one he was having at the moment was by far the worst he had ever had in his life.

He was running, running endlessly, though he did not know why. The dark trees that were all around him seemed to be bending over and waiting for the right moment to set their brown limbs on him. The whole forest seemed to glare at him, growling at him as he passed, snarling if he tread upon their roots. Finally he could see lights up ahead, and shouts and screams of fear and dread. Frodo wanted to stop, to turn away, to wake up, but he knew he could not. His dream self kept running towards the yellow lights of torches being held aloft by hobbits, and as he neared he heard shouts of, "They're dead! Oh Eru, they're dead!" and, "Poor hobbits! I always knew the river was no place to be near!". Frodo skidded to a halt at the back of a large crowd of hobbits at the edge of the Brandywine River, and when they caught sight of him, they parted slowly to let him through, staring at him as he made his way through. 

Frodo dreaded what he would see, trying not to percieve the worst. When the last hobbits finally parted for him, he gasped and his heart tore in two, tears springing to his eyes immediately. His mother and father lay sprawled on the ground, a boat turned over a few feet away. His mother and father's eyes were open, cold distant and unseeing. They had no color whatsoever in their skin, their wet and dripping dark brown hair and eyelashes in stark contrast with their pale skin. Frodo slowly went to his hands and knees and craled to his mother's side and touched her face, and with a gasp and a shudder quickly drew his hand away. It was so _cold_. Frodo hesitated and reached over his mother's still body to touch his father's face, and with another sharp gasp and shudder instantly drew his hand away again. Tears flowed down his face unheeded as the other hobits sadly looked on. 

__

Dead. _They were dead._ Who was supposed to tuck him in at night? Who was supposed to read him nightime stories? Who was supposed to kiss his booboos and make them all better? Who was supposed to feed him and take him out swimming? But most of all, who was supposed to _love_him?

His Aunt Esmerelda quietly walked over to him and picked him up, holding his shaking form close to her and rocking him slowly. Frodo sobbed into her shoulder as he was carried away towards Brandy Hall, his Uncle Saradoc following closely behind with his head bowed. Aunt Esme whispered soothing reasurances to him as she made her way back to Brandy Hall, shooshing him gently and stroking his curls. But nothing his Aunt could say could possibly calm his silent tears or peace together his shattered heart. _His parents were gone, there was no one to love him._

Frodo jerked awake, his breath shallow and quick and cold perpiration on his brow. He sat up slowly and put his face in his hands, breathing in slow, deep gulps of air and trying to calm his racing heart. When his heart had finally slowed down, and his breathing rate was normal, he lifted his head and looked around slowly, making sure everything was alright. 

Everyone lay sleeping around the now dead fire, covered in blankets which rose and feel with their everybreath, the only indication that they were even alive. Frodo choked and covered his mouth, keeping himself from wailing aloud in his misery. He could remember his dream all too vividly, and images of it kept flashing through his mind, words whispering to him, torturing his already torn heart.

__

Running endlessly, trees glaring at him and growling, snarling if he tread upon their roots. Yellow lights. Screams. "They're dead! Oh Eru, they're dead!" _Staring eyes. Gasp. Tears. Mother and Father laying on the ground, an upturned boat a little ways away. Distant unseeing eyes. Cold and wet, to cold, deathly cold. Aunt Esme picking him up and carrying him away, Uncle Sara following. Aunt Esme whispering and shooshing him, trying to calm him. No. Nothing could help. They were dead. No one to love him. No one._

Frodo shook his head, trying to clear away the terrible thoughts. He passed his hand over his face, wiping away the tears he had been unaware of shedding. He slowly got up, carefully tucking the blankets around his cousin, trying his hardest to be quiet and not wake anyone up. He walked as soundlessly as he could, into the darkness of the woods. He didn't intend on going far, just far enough to get his head cleared. 

Owls hooted in the trees above him, and the crickets chirped noisely. Pairs of yellowish eyes stared at him in the darkness, blinking slowly before turning off completely. He walked on breathing in the cold night air deeply and thinking hard.

__

What was he thinking? Of course he was loved!

'Really?' A small, taunting voice asked. 'Like who?'

__

Like Aunt Esme and Uncle Sara! His own voice in his mind answered.

'They only love you because they have to. They have to watch over you, or it will be their hides.' Frodo gave a small choke and tears fell freely down his face once more. 'Who else?'

Frodo only had to think a moment before answering. _Merry!_

The jeering voice laughed. 'A pity love!' It cried.

Frodo shook his head fiercely, his mind screaming, _No! No! Merry does not pity me! He is my friend and cousin and he loves me!_

Suddenly, in he middle of Frodo's reverie, he tripped over an overly large stick and fell face down on the ground. Frodo sat up and grumbled, rubbing his head and staring at the stick. Or so he thought, until it moved. Frodo gasped and his eyes slowly followed the path of the log, until it connected to someone's body. It was a man! The man moved again, and by the moonlight Frodo could just barely seethe man's eyes opening slowly. Frodo caught a glimpse of a dark form huddled next to the man before he took off running in fright. The man got up quickly and watched him for a second before running after him. The huddled form that Frodo had seen only moments before got up slowly and trotted after them.

Frodo ran as fast as he could, nearly running into several trees he had not seen in his path. He could hear thudding footsteps behind him, drawing ever nearer, and he also thought he could hear slightly softer feet jogging along behind the terribly loud feet. 

Frodo suddenly saw up ahead a few trees he recognized, and heard many voices he recognized.

"Frodo's gone!" _Merry!_

"What!?" _Uncle Sara!_

"He's gone!?" _Thelin!_

"Calm down! Calm down! Where could he have gone?" _Estel!_

Frodo hurried toward the voices, his breaths coming in short shallow gasps now. The loud footsteps, still followed by softer ones, seemed not to notice the shouts ahead. Frodo ran on, his chest feeling like it was going to burst, it hurt so much to breath. 

Frodo finally burst through the brush and into the small clearing in which his friends were now standing looking terribly frantic.They all turned to see him running and Merry shouted out his name and ran to him. "Where were you, Frodo?" But that was all he got out before Frodo leapt by him and something else, something else much, _much_ bigger thundered past him. Frodo scurried up a tree, the man that had been chasing him stopping at the roots of the tree and glaring up at the small hobbit. "Get back here," he growled, seeming oblivious to the others around him, "Or I'll make you, you little-" Estel had unsheathed his sword and now stood with the point directed at the center of the man's back. "Let Frodo alone, or _I'll_ make you!" He hissed.

The man slowly turned around, hands in the air, seemingly ready to give up. Suddenly, another man burst through the brush, and, seeing his companion, unsheethed his sword and aimed a blow with it at Estel. Estel quickly turned and blocked the blow effectively, and he continued to block and deliver blows to his opponent. The ringing of two more swords being taken from their sheaths made itself known, and Thelin and the first man's swords clanged together. 

Merry and Uncle Sara backed off and stood behind a tree, watching the sword fight with wide eyes. Frodo watched from above, watching Estel's every movement. But as Frodo glanced at his opponent, he took a double-take. That was Elomier! Frodo looked over at where Thelin was fighting, and he realized that the other man was Aron. 

White-hot anger bioled up inside of him like a fiery hot brand. Hadn't they done enough? Kidnapping him and nearly drowning him was high in Frodo's mind, and it only angered him more.

Frodo's gaze was brought back to the fight and what he saw next would stick in his mind forever. Aron was now holding two swords, one was his own, the other was Thelin's, to Thelin's throat. Everything was still, all things seemed to have stopped.

"Now," Spoke Aron in his smooth voice, "Drop your sword, or I will kill him." Estel glanced at Elomier, and then Aron, and finally Thelin. He hesitated for only a second, then dropped his sword, which landed point down in the ground with a soft _thud_, shaking slightly. Elomier and Aron both smirked at eachother, in such a mocking and evil way, Frodo felt his anger burn brighter. Elomier stepped closer to Estel, his sword pointed at his heart. He had a sneer planted firmly on his face as he said, "Aron, I think we should kill this one, don't you?" Aron nodded heartily, a firm sneer on his face too. Elomier shifted a bit to the right, before drawing back his sword to give the final blow. 

He didn't see the small figure jump from the branches of the tree behind him, racing towards him like an elven arrow.

~*~

__

-To be continued-

Mwa ha ha! *glares evilly at you all* I love cliff hangers! They're so much fun to do! And they always keep you on edge, so then you'll want to read again!

So R&R and I'll write faster, and you'll know what happens next much quicker..

Yah, _anyway_! It took a lot to actually write this.. I dragged myself off the couch to do it, so be happy! ^^ *grins widely at you all and pinches someone's cheeks* 

*walks off holding a Frodo plushie and some chocolate* 

*!!!Oh yah! Guys? Could you tell me how to get things italicized? With an example and stuff too, please? Pretty please?!!!*


	8. Blood

-I do not own LOTR or any of it's characters. But Aron, Elomier, and Thelin are mine.-

~*~

Light blue eyes widened slightly and an arrow was set to a bow, string taught. The eyes narrowed and watched silently for the right time to release his arrow.

Frodo had shot out of the tree like an arrow, and had landed on Elomier, latching his arms around his neck tightly. Elomier whirled and grabbed a hold of Frodo's hands with one of his, trying to throw him off. But Frodo only tightened his hold, effectively cutting off the man's air. Elomier choked, and Frodo lossened his hold in surprise, before realizing what he had done and grinning evily and tightening his hold, cutting off Elomier's air again. Elomier choked again and swung around, dropping his sword to the ground and grasping Frodo's hands and trying to get him off.

Unknown to both Estel had seized his chance and picked up his sword and held it ready, waiting for his chance to strike. Elomier's face was now turning purple, and he was desperately clawing aat Frodo's hands, but Frodo wouldn't let go. Elomier swung around again, and Estel saw his chance. He swung his sword around, aiming it at Elomier's chest. But at that moment Elomier swung again, and Frodo's back was now facing his swiftly falling sword. Estel couldn't stop his sword or swing it around, it was too late. All he could do was watch in slow motion as his sword sliced at Frodo's back, leaving a large gash near the shoulders, his clothes instantly reddening. Frodo never let his grip loosen, but he let the most blood-curdling cry Estel had ever heard, and his grip tightened ever more. Elomier fell to his knees, his eyes drooping.

Suddenly an arrow whistled through the air, landing straight in Elomier's chest. The man's eyes widened for a second, and he fell to the ground, lifeless. Aron started to trot over to his companion's prone figure, but another arrow went whistling through the air and straight into the man's chest, and he toppled over, face down and lifeless like his comrade. 

Everything was still for a moment, before everyone rushed to where Frodo lay curled up in a ball, breath coming ragged shallow and fast. The back of his jacket was almost completely covered in dark red blood.

Estel and Thelin dropped to their knees beside Frodo, followed by Saradoc and Merry. Legolas was already kneeling down next to Frodo, leaning over him with his hand gently on his shoulder.

"Frodo," Estel spoke softly, trying to get his attention. Frodo turned his head slightly upon hearing Estel's voice, but otherwise made no other sign that he had heard. "Frodo, stay with me alright, try to stay awake." Frodo nodded slightly, his eyelids drooping. Estel looked desperately at Legolas, who sat at Frodo's head. Legolas nodded and started talking to Frodo, trying to keep him awake. Estel tried to sort his jumbled thoughts, tried to calm down. But how could he? He had just cut Frodo with his own sword! _Calm down!_ He told himself, mentally slapping himself. _Compose yourself. Now. What do we need to do?_

Simple. I need to—

Wait. Aragorn glanced at the dead forms of Aron and Elomier and looked down at Frodo. _I can't do anything here. I can't have Frodo laying around in a place of death. I have to get him out of here before I do anything else. _Aragorn hesitated for a second before making up his mind. He went to pick Frodo up, but stopped. _I can't carry him. I'll jostle him to much. _Aragorn looked at the elf, who was still talking to Frodo.

"Legolas," He said quietly, and the elf looked up. "I need you to carry Frodo out of here. I can't, I would jostle him to much."

Merry was at Legolas' side. "What about Ada?" Estel looked over at the nervously dancing and neighing pony,and shook his head. "No, a pony would be even worse than me." He ripped off a long strip of cloth from his cloak, and wrapped it around Frodo's back and chest. Legolas picked him up gingerly, careful to avoid the wound. But despite his efforts, Frodo gave a cry of agony, his bright eyes falling in and out of focus.

Legolas brushed the already sweat soaked curls from Frodo's forehead, and followed Estel out of the clearing, letting the rest follow.

__

Hold on Frodo. Hold on.

~*~

TBC…

Meep! I hope Frodo will be ok!


	9. Athelas

-I don't own LOTR or any of it's characters. But Thelin, Elomier, and Arron and mine.-

~*~

__

Clip clop, clip clop.

The sound of Ada's hooves seemed to be echoing through the whole woods as the small group continued on, all silent, except for small groans and gasps from Frodo, who, Estel observed worriedly, was still aware of everything. Legolas still held him, gentle and caring, extremely careful not to jostle him to much, or touch the heavily bleeding wound. 

After several agonizingly slow minutes, the group came upon a small clearing, completely devoid of any dead bodies. Legolas carrefully hurried to it, setting Frodo down on his stomach by the elm nearest him, Frodo moaning on contact with the soft earth.

Estel hurried and kneeled at his side, dropping his pack from his shoulders and opening it, searching through it. His hand came out grasping a large roll of white bandages, a bit dusty from non-use. Estel quickly took off all of Frodo's upper clothing, so he could have a better look at his small back. The cut seemed terrible, but when Estel whiped away the blood, he noticed it had not gone deep enough to need suturing, but still deep enough to need to be taken careful care of.

Estel stared at the bleeding wound uncertainly. He knew he was forgeting something. _Ah, yes! _I need to boil some _athelas _water. Estel started when he realized he had used all of his athelas supply a few weeks ago. He looked at Legolas and Thelin, and asked, "Thelin, do you know the plant Kingsfoil?" Thelin looked puzzled for a moment before shaking his head. Estel sighed. "Legolas?" Legolas nodded his head vigorously, eager to help out. "Alright, Legolas, I need you to find some for me. I have found that in certain parts of the shire it grows well, but only in small parts and they are very rare to come by. I believe I saw some a long while ago, over that way." He pointed at the other side of the clearing, through the dark trees.

Legolas stooped low to give the dark-haired hobbit a kiss on the forehead before picking up his bow and quiver and disappeared into the night.

Estel turned back to Frodo, and held the dark cloth of his cloak to his wound firmly, trying to stop the blood. He waited patiently for Legolas to return, but with each passing minute his patience started to fade.

~*~

Legolas walked through the dark, now noticing vaguely that the sun was rising slowly. He walked quickly, but silently, still wary of everything. He didn't want anything else happening. 

After about a half an hour, he stumbled upon a very small patch of Kingsfoil, or _Athelas_. They were small plants with long pointed leaves and small white flowers at the top, not much to look at. Any passerby who was unexperienced in herb-lore would think nothing at all of them.

Though Legolas was not as experienced in herb-lore as Estel, he knew enough to know that these were _athelas_.

Legolas shifted to kis knees and pulled his long knife out of his boot and cut the stem of a small clump of the _athelas_, marveling at its beauty for a second before standing and heading back towards the clearing in which Estel would now be waiting rather impatiently.

He passed by every tree and bush as silent as a whisper of wind, the sun now barely reaching its warm fingers between the green leaves of the tree around him. He took less time to get to the clearing for her wasn't looking around the ground carefully for anything. And when he reached the clearing, he found a sight he didn't really want to see.

Estel was kneeling by the rapidly breathing Frodo, using his own cloak to try and stop the blood. He was pressing down hard on the cut, blood soaking the cloak and making it look almost black. Frodo lay on his stomach, head facing Legolas, eyes fully open, eyes shining with pain. His face was extremely pale, perspiration drenching his curls and plastering them to his forehead. When he saw Legolas walk through the trees surrounding the clearing, he smiled weakly.

Estel turned around, and, spotting Legolas, beckoned him over with an impatient wave of his hand. Legolas hurried over, the _athelas _in his hand. Legolas handed the _athelas _to him, kneeling next next to Frodo's head, with a sad weak smile and Frodo returned it with one of his own. 

While Legolas had been gone, Estel had told Thelin start a fire and boil some water from a clear creek near-by. Thelin had done that, and now the water was boiling nicely. Estel began making the _athelas _water, while Legolas tried to comfort Frodo. 

He sat by Frodo's side, shooshing him and brushing away his sweat-soaked curls. He frowned slightly when he found a slight fever, but didn't let Frodo see it. He gave Frodo a small smile and kept stroking his dark curls, and to his own surprise as well as Estel and Thelin's, Frodo's quick breaths started to slow down, and his pale face gained some color.

Estel grinned widely and started to soak the bandages in the _athelas _water, the scent of the water further calming Frodo and lightening everyone's heart. Estel whispere something to Legolas, and Legolas nodded and gently lifted Frodo to a sitting position, holding his back as straight as he could to try and not open the wound further or hurt Frodo even more. 

Frodo grimaced and bit his lip to prevent himself from crying out, but could not stop a small whimper from escaping his lips when Estel started wrapping the bandages around Frodo's back and front, the _athelas_ water giving him a bit of a sting.

  
Legolas tried to sooth him gently, shooshing him and stroking the curls on the back of his neck. All the while Estel was wrapping the wet bandages around Frodo, and when he was done he made sure the bandages were tight, but loose enough so that Frodo could beath easily.

He frowned when he noticed the sun was high in the sky. He turned to Thelin. "Thelin!" Thelin looked over at him from where he was tending the fire. "Can you go and kill a few rabbits, or perhaps get some berries?" Thelin nodded and got to his feet, stetching for a brief moment before grabbing his weapons and marching out of the clearing dutifully.

Legolas lay Frodo down carefully, covering him in blankets. Merry and Sara sat down at his side, while Legolas sat down by the fire and Estel sat down on Frodo's other side, keeping watch.

The sun was getting ready to set when Thelin returned holding only one dead rabbit in one hand, and a lot of purple berries in the other, wet from behing washed in a creek. Sara hurried over and took the rabbit from him, and started to make dinner. Thelin grinned sheepishly while Estel rolled his eyes and Legolas sighed.

Soon dinner was ready, thanks to Sara, and everybody was eating. Merry woke Frodo up and gave him a generous helping of the rabbit stu, along with some of the tasty berries. Frodo tried to refuse so much food, saying that he wasn't that hungry, but Estel told him that he needed the nutrition for a quick recovery. Frodo sighed and rested his back against a tree gently, Merry beside him. He ate as much as he could, but when he was done he had about a third of his food left. Merry insisted on eating more, but Frodo kept shaking his head and Merry finally gave up with a sigh.

Frodo lay down in his nest of blankets, closing his eyes and slowly drifting off to sleep with a contented sigh. Merry, with one last concerned glance, went to the other side of the clearing with his father and lay down at his side. They were asleep in minutes, exhuasted from all of the previous mishaps.

Estel and Thelin lay down nearby where the two hobbits were, and also fell asleep instantly. Legolas, not needing sleep like the others, sat down by the dying fire, keeping vigil.

~*~

TBC…

Alright guys, here's your chapter. Sorry about it taking so long to make it…

Anyways, I'm thinking of re-making my other story sometime when I'm better at fic-writing, and I know I'm going to make a LOT of sequals to this fic, 'cause I love pre-quest fics!

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter and please review, 'cause you know reviews will make me type faster! (and I like reviews anyways, so please review! ^^)

-lilpip


	10. Lions and Tigers and Giant Wolves?

-I do not own LOTR or any of its characters. But Thelin, Elomier, and Arron are mine.-

~*~

It was late into the night when Legolas became aware of a sound back at their camp. He had gone out to scout the area, suspecting something else to go wrong. A sound not pleasant to his elven ears.

Moaning, and what sounded like thrashing and harsh movements.

Thinking something terrible had befallen one of his new friends, he raced back to the small clearing as fast as he could. When he came to it, he saw nothing out of the normal.

He saw Aragorn and Thelin, almost side-by-side, sleeping peacefully. He also saw Merry and Saradoc, Merry sleeping comfortably in his fathers embrace with Saradoc's chin resting on his son's head, deep in sleep too.

Then Legolas' eyes rested on the source of the moaning and restlessness, and rushed over to him. Frodo lay entangled in his blankets, moaning and thrashing, his cheeks flushed and sweat plastering his dark curls to his forehead. Legolas knelt beside him and touched his arm gently, and snapped his hand back in surprise.

__

It was so hot! 

Legolas put his hand to his little friend's forehead, and gasped, eyes wideening considerably. Frodo had a fever, a very high fever at that.

Legolas considered waking up Estel, but threw that thought away. _He needs a good rest. I have to take care of this myself._ _Now first I have to wake Frodo up._

~*~

At first Frodo's dreams had been pleasant, not anything like they were now. And, oh, how he wished he could go back to those dreams, just to be out of these terirble ones.

Frodo had woken up in the middle of a field, a dark field, full of dead grass and smushed flowers. He only heard the moaning of the trees at the edges of the field, watching him with dark eyes hooded by darkened leaves that were even worse looking than the Old Forest at midnight. 

Frodo slowly stood up, his heart beating a mile a minute. He looked around cautiously, not wanting to find anything bad. But that was when his bright eyes fell upon something, and snarling and howling reached his sensitive ears. It was a shadow, or a bunch of shadows, from what his eyes told him, for it was moving in every direction and yipping and howling to much for it to be a single thing. 

His instincts told him to look away, to run away, to not come any closer, but something was drawing him to the shadow. Against his own will, he started walking slowly to it, the thing getting ever bigger, and scarier. 

And when he was only a few feet away, the things turned their yellow eyes on him. Frodo took a step back, and something, actually two somethings, rose from behind the shadow things. They glowed a faint blue, illuminating the shadow things around them. Frodo gasped and took another step back, realizing what they were.

__

Wolves.

But not ordinary wolves, oh no. These wolves were _huge_! They stood almost five feet at the shoulder, and were almost eight or nine feet long, from their noses to the tip of their bushy tails. Some were jet black, and others were silvery white. But no matter their color, they all had long sharp nails, golden eyes, and very long sharp teeth.

And the things that had emerged from behind them were only about four feet tall, but they were floating in the air above the Wolf Giants, their heads lolling and big feet swaying. And with a terrible pang of hurt and dread, he realised, by the faint glow of blue, that the floating things were…

__

His parents.

They were dead, he knew, from the way their heads lolled and that their chests were not moving. They were dressed the same as they had been the day they had drowned, and they're cloths and curls were both extremely wet. And half of their cloths were ripped and shredded, and black blood was covering what was left of the ragged cloth.

The Wolf giant at the front howled, loud and clear, and the rest of the pack howled along with him, they're black and white coats gleaming. They slowly advanced as his parents' heads snapped up showing pointed, gleaming teeth, and yellow eyes. They floated down onto the front Wolf Giant's back, his father in front, his mother in back, holding onto his waist and grinning. His father grabbed onto the Wolf Giant's fur, and kicked the beast's white sides. The terrible beast shot forward, and Frodo dove out of the way, the beast's sharp claws nearly missing the side of his head by inches. His feet barely touching the ground, he swerved and came around for another attack, Frodo's father steering the beast, and Frodo dove out of the way again, but this time one of the beast's claws cut him on the arm, drawing blood almost immediately.

And it kept going on like this, attacking, diving, attacking diving, occasionally getting cut once again, until Frodo heard something. 

__

"Frodo! FRODO! Wake up! You need to wake up Frodo, wake up!"

__

Wake up? Was he sleeping? But this seemed so real!

The Wolf Giant lunged at him again, this time grabbing his arm with his teeth, the four inch fangs sinking in deep. He gave a howl of pain, and suddenly, everything dissapeared.

~*~

Legolas was watching the thrashing and moaning get worse by the minute. He had tried to wake Frodo up, had really tried, bu couldn't. He had removed the small hot body from the blankets, and placed him on the grass carefully, and had been watching him for several minutes until he couldn't take it anymore. Not caring what would happen, he started shaking the small body and calling out to Frodo.

"Frodo! FRODO! Wake up! You need to wake up, Frodo, wake up!" Briefly he wondered how everyone in the clearing could sleep through all of this, but that thought was dashed away when Frodo awoke with a cry, looking around wildely and breathing shallowly. Then his fever-bright eyes rested on Legolas, and as Legolas started to try to reassure him that everything was alright, the hobbit gave a small cry and shrank back, curling into a small ball and whispering, "Please don't hurt me, don't make my parents kill me, I don't want them to be the cause of my death. Please don't hurt me."

Legolas drew back a bit in surprise, but crawled forward and put his slim hand on Frodo's shoulder, ready to try to give reassurances again. But again he was denied that by Frodo crying out, but this time Frodo didn't just curl into a ball. He shot up onto his feet and took off, running blindly through the trees.

Legolas stood up and hesitated, sparing a glance over his shoulder at their camp. But as the hobbit's soft footsteps grew even more distant, he shook his head and took off in the direction of the sound. But after a few seconds, and after he knew he was getting very close, the soft footsteps stopped alltogether. 

He kept running a few feet, and stopped, looking around frantically. He heard something off to his right, and dashed off in that direction. He didn't notice the relieved sigh and the small scraping sounds as someone climbed down a tree.

~*~

TBC…

And the horrors continue… *yawn* Sorry guys, but I am really, REALLY tired. I'm going to leave this chapter where it is for now, and continue in a little bit.

R&R

Bye!

-lilpip


	11. What? A friendly wolf?

-I do not own LOTR or any of its characters. Elomier, Arron, and Thelin are mine though.-

~*~

Frodo breathed a sigh of relief. Before that terrible thing had gotten him, he had climbed a tree in hopes that it wouldn't find him. And to his great relief, it heard something a little ways away, and took off toward the sound.

Frodo scrambled down the tree carefully, and, checking to mae sure it wasn't in sight, took off in the opposite direction. He had been running for only a few minutes when he came to a small river. Shallow, almost shallow enough so if he wanted to stand in it, his feet would almost touch the bottom. But wide, wider than he was tall. He went down on his hands and knees at the edge of it, looking into the crystalline waters. His reflection stared back at him, blinking slowly, cheeks flared pink.

He watched himself watch his reflection, watching how his cerulean eyes almost blended perfectly with the water. He watched how the water swirled and glittered in the moonlight, making Frodo's eyes seem brighter in the water. Frodo reached down and touched the water, little rings forming around his finger. The water was cool around his finger, very soothing because he was very hot, so he stuck his whole hand in, enjoying the ripple that came after. 

But he drew his hands out of the water with a puzzled look when he heard someone padding towards him. He froze when the padding came closer, in hopes that it would just go away. His face paled considerably when he heard a low growl. He just knew what it was, and he only dared to hope that if he just stayed still long enough that it would go away.

It didn't.

It padded over to Frodo, and Frodo could see its long furry face in the water, peering at him with yellow eyes. It put its cold nose to his hair, and started to sniff suspiciously, and Frodo couldn't help but shiver. The wolf growled and Frodo became still again, not wanting to anger it. After a few minutes of sniffing, and only two more growls, the wolf sat down, slowly stretching out into a laying position. Frodo stared at it curiously, and the wolf stared back. The wolf seemed to smile slowly, showing its sharp canine teeth. Frodo's brow furrowed slightly, but a small smile grew on his pale face too. 

The wolf seemed to trust him, and didn't seemed threatened by him at all. Frodo reached out a cautious hand to pet the wolf's thick fur. The wolfs ear flattened almost interceptibly, but it allowed Frodo to stroke its head. Frodo slowly stretched himself out on his stomach beside the wolf, dipping his feet into the cool water. He continued to pet the wolf, the wolf's pointed earsfolding back and going forward again with each pet. But soon, to soon, the wolf got up and licked his ear, and trotted off.

Frodo sat there wearing a puzzled expression, not sure what had just happened. Everyone had told him that wolves were terrible, vicious beasts that wouldn't hesitate a second to rip you to peaces. But that wolf hadn't even nipped him! Maybe not everything was as bad as they seemed to be. One in every hundred of evil was good. Frodo guessed that wolf was the good one. He shook his head as his thoughts started to give him a headache.

He got up slowly and walked away in the direction the wolf had gone, deeper into the woods. He walked for several minutes in silence, but then he stopped mid-step. What was that he just heard? He listened for a few more moments, and after he heard nothing, shrugged it off and continued to walk, but again stopped mid-step. There! He knew he heard that! He looked around slowly, expecting something to jump out and eat him, but nothing happened. He hesitantly started to walk again, but almost immeidately stopped again. He started to grow frustrated. He was either going insane, or he _really had _heard something that time!

A rustling in the bushes behind him stopped his train of thought abruplty. He saw yellow eyes and then something dark jumped out of the bushes, lunging at Frodo…

~*~

TBC…

Rule numba one for me! Always do cliff hangers at the end of a chappie! ^-~ You must be getting a little irritated with all the cliffies, ne?

Anyway, this was a quick chapter I made, 'cause I thought that people would want it. So, here you go!

Anyway, R&R, and, if I can, the next chapter will be up soon! 

Bye! =)

-lilpip


	12. Found

-I do not own LOTR or any of it's characters. But Thelin, Elomier, and Aron are mine!-  
  
Frodo gave a cry and leapt to the side, the shadowed thing missing him by inches. But it wasn't finished, oh no. The thing leapt at him again, snarling. Frodo somehow managed to kick it in the face and roll to the side, the thing giving what sounded like half way between a snarl and a yip.  
  
The thing shook it's pointed head and crouched, it's bushy tail curled around it's hind legs. It growled, then did what Frodo hoped it wouldn't do; pounced. It landed right on top of Frodo, knocking him to the ground with a thud, and snarling close to his face, it's breath warm and wet.  
  
Frodo cried out as loud as he could, which wasn't much, given that his throat hurt way to much. Not to mention he was starting to get dizzy and nauscious. He curled his hand into a small fist, and punched the thing in the side of the head, repeating this several times until the thing got off of him, and Frodo was able to stand up. Frodo swayed slightly, but was able to stand on his feet.  
  
Frodo let a small sob escape his throat as he clumsily dodged the next attack by the thing, crying out to no on in particular, "Please! Somebody," He sobbed, "Anybody! Help!" He was sobbing so hard now that he could barely evade the attacks by the thing, getting slower and slower every second. Every second that passed by, it got closer to getting him. He was able to dodge one last attack before falling to the ground with a soft thud, taking a shuddering breath and closing his fever-bright eyes.  
  
What he did not see was a shadowed figure leap into the clearing right before he fell. The figure gave a loud battle cry, getting the wolf's attention. The figure drew his bow and knotched an arrow to it, and let it fly. It hit the wolf in the stomach, blood falling onto the soft ground immediately. The wolf let out a howl of pain and a snarl at it's attacker, and bounded away into the darkness.  
  
The dark figure sighed tiredly, he hadn't wanted to do that. The poor wolf, it would probably die soon. But right now he needed to get to more important things. He rushed over to where Frodo was breathing raggedly, and picked him up carefully. Frodo gave a small moan, but was otherwise quiet.  
  
The figure ran swiftly and carefully, so as not to hurt Frodo. He made it to the small clearing within minutes, but too him it seemed like hours. When he did reach the clearing, he was met with several frantic people, and a lot of shouting. None noticed him, and he cleared his throat trying to get their attention. When that plan failed, he yelled as loudly as he could, "QUIET!" Luckily for him, that seemed to get their attention. But, unluckily for him, everyone rushed over and began asking him questions, stroking the unconcious hobbit's hair, and eyeing him and the hobbit in concern.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Where did you go?"  
  
"Is Frodo all right?"  
  
"What's wrong with him?"  
  
"Should we wake him up?"  
  
Estel quieted everyone with a loud, "Shoosh!", and calmly took the unconcious hobbit carefully, laying him down on a spread blanket. "Legolas, you will help me. Everyone else, I suggest you go back to sleep." This was met by many protests, but he shook his head and repeated his statement. They all layed back down in their original spots, though they're sleep was fitful, if they got any at all.  
  
Estel and Legolas turned to the motionless form of Frodo, and immediately got to work on him. They replaced his bandages, and rubbed him down in an attempt to get the hot sweat off of his body. Legolas got cold water from a stream in a bowl, and brought it back, and teared off a bit of cloth from a spare blanket, dipped it into the water, and put the cloth against Frodo's hot skin, trying to cool him. They worked the best they could, trying to bring Frodo's fever down. Frodo woke up a few times long enough to drink some water, and maybe even eat a little, but he always fell unconcious right after.  
  
It took several hours of cooling and drying and bandage-changing and feeding before Frodo's fever finally broke. It was about two hours after sunrise when they decided all he needed now was a nice rest. And sleep peacefully he did. He didn't have any more nightmares, and slept with a small smiles on his slightly pale features. Legolas and Merry sat on either side of him, watching him warily, while Estel came over to them every now and then to check up on him. Sara had stayed with them to keep vigil for a little while, but had eventually fallen asleep and had been carried to the other side of the clearing. Thelin had stayed with them for a while too, but was now sitting on the other side of the clearing next to the dozing Sara uncertainly.  
  
And when Frodo woke up the next day, he stayed awake, now feeling much better, despite the wound on his small back. He was sitting up without the help of someone sitting behind him, surprising everyone. Though he was still very weak, he seemed o be getting along nicely.  
  
Two days later, Estel deemed him fit to travel back home with them, though he would occasionally be traveling on Ada. Frodo protested against this, but Estel managed to get him to do it, somehow. And so when everyone had everything they needed, they set out for their destination, the sun low in the sky.  
  
TBC...  
  
Yah, I know it was short and wuick, I know. But I'm sorry to admit it, I'm getting tired of this story. I'm dragging it out. So now I think I'll end it. The next chapter will be the last one I think. Don't worry, I'm hoping to have sequals (sp?) to this story. And other stories as well.  
  
Oh, and sorry for not posting sooner.  
  
And please review! It'll make me update sooner! Hopefully.... '  
  
-lilpip 


	13. Until we meet again

-I do not own LOTR or any of it's characters. But Arron, Elomier, and Thelin are mine!-

Ok, everyone, last chapter. Have fun and read, and hope to see you again soon!

--

Frodo was currently traveling on the back of Ada the pony. Frodo had been walking for a long time, and even he knew that he was getting tired and needed rest. Though he didn't want to show it. But thankfully Estel had noticed, and without a word had picked him up and lifted him onto Ada's back. Frodo had grinned bashfully and nodded his thanks.

They were almost out of the woods, and with the sun's last rays of light painting the sky red and orange. Frodo sighed in relief when he saw Brandy Hall coming into view, smoke billowing out of various chimneys. He sat up a bit straighter in the saddle, doing his best to ignore the slight sting of pain from the healing wound on his back. He and Merry exchanged excited grins before turning back to the trail. Estel, Legolas, and Thelin looked at Brandy Hall with curiosity, and Sara only smiled slightly.

After only a few minutes they found themselves in front of Brandy Hall, various noises and aromas coming from inside. Frodo carefully slid off of Ada and stood by Merry. Sara came and stood by them, with the two men and elf behind them, staring at Brandy Hall.

Frodo and the two hobbits beside him turned around and faced the three taller beings with smiles on their faces. Sara bowed to them and said, "I thank you kindly for your help. If it weren't for you all, we wouldn't be home, and may I mention, safe." The two men and elf nodded and grinned back, and each shook Sara's hand. With a final nod, Sara took Ada's reins and led her away to the stables.

Estel, Thelin, and Legolas kneeled in front of Frodo and Merry, so that the hobbits could see them better and wouldn't have to crane their heads. "So, this is it. You two are going home, and we are parting and going where we need to." Estel said quietly.

Frodo nodded. "Thank you so much for everything. Everything. Saving me, making sure we didn't get into too much trouble, and overall for being our friends." He spoke for both Merry and him, and Merry nodded, murmuring a shy 'thank you'.

Frodo couldn't take it anymore and ran to Estel and hugged him tightly, Estel returning the embrace. Frodo had tears in his eyes when he pulled back, smiling widely. He ran to Legolas and gave him a tight hug, Legolas returning it, and finally he moved to Thelin. Thelin looked a bit uncomfortable, but Frodo gave him a tight hug anyway, and pulled back to stand in his original spot. Merry did the same to each of them, though he didn't hug them as tight, or for as long.

Frodo and Merry stood back as the three stood up slowly.

Thelin was the first to speak, "Farewell, Frodo, Merry, until we meet again." And with a nod, he turned and walked away, back into the woods, without another glance back.

Legolas was the second to speak. "I'm glad I came to the Shire, because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have met you two." He grinned and said, "Two new hobbit friends. I hope to see you two again someday, soon. Farewell!" And with a last quick hug to both hobbits, he left with a happy nod and ran into the woods.

Estel was last. He looked at them both for a second before saying, "Well, I'll say this has been an adventure to remember. And I certainly couldn't forget you two. I will miss you both, and I hope to see you again, soon." He paused, and said, "I will be traveling through the Shire, usually. I might be in Rivendell sometimes, though. Visiting Lord Elrond and his twin sons. And a few other elves, too. But don't tell anyone that, alright?" He gave the two quick hugs before saying, "Fare well! I hope we will meet again soon!" And with a quick turn, he ran into the woods, glancing back to smiles widely at his two hobbit friends.

Frodo and Merry waved goodbye until Estel was out of sight, before walking into Brandy Hall. They were met with several hobbits, squealing and running to them, hugging them and pinching their cheeks, asking them where they'd gone to and what had happened. Merry and Frodo endured this for about a minute before they finally got fed up and squeezed out of their grasps and retreated to a room they shared with each other and a few other hobbits. Merry lay down on a bed, and Frodo laid down beside him, both in deep thought.

After a while, Merry turned to Frodo, his brow wrinkled in thought. "Frodo?" Frodo looked at him questioningly. "Do you think we really will see Legolas, Estel, and Thelin again?"

Frodo looked at Merry for the longest time, before replying, "Of course Merry. We will meet again, and I hope it will be soon." Merry seemed to like this answer, so he turned over onto his stomach and laid his head on his pillow, drifting off to sleep.

Frodo grinned and turned over, also laying his head on his pillow, letting sleep embrace him. He let one though drift through his head before falling into a dreamless sleep.

_Until we meet again._

_ **- The End - **_

****

--

Well, that's the end of this fic, guys. I hope you enjoyed it, I know I did. I hope to make a sequel to it, and I hope you'll read it.

Thank you for all your support and reviews, and thank you lots for reading!

See you later!

-lilpip


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